I took my 12 year old Wurp to our usual vet not long ago--thread on this here (and I hope I put this link in the right way!) They told me he had not lost weight and couldn't find anything wrong.
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/316451/aging-kitty-question
However, this past week he has vomited daily. This really concerned me. He puked all over our bed, all over the floor, what I call "used" cat food and (yes this is gross what I call it) hairball juice. Only a small 1 1/2 inch hairball was found near the door. He is stressed from Shortstack being introduced February 5th into the household, but he has some other issues, so another vet appointment made.
Well, $172 later, I came out more confused and unhappy than before. I saw my vet's counterpart, and he is an arrogant ass in my opinion, but everyone says he is really good and worth putting up with the attitude for the treatment he provides. So I conceded, and took the available appointment with this vet. My vet was booked until 3 weeks from now.
We got toenails clipped as usual, and then I pushed for a full panel bloodwork with thyroid test ($112 of the total just for the testing). I think the prior visit they only ran a white count, or maybe a smaller, basic panel. This vet came in and told me all is indeed well except for 2 things. His eosinophils and neutrophils were *slightly* elevated--and he did not give me values or even a copy of the bloodwork. He emphasized *slightly* and did not seem concerned. He said his WBC were up slightly too, but he said that was very normal for a cat coming in to the vet, that stress raises their WBC?? Is this true?
He went on about the vomiting and really didn't tell me anything. He said it could be stress, allergies, all the way up to cancer, that "cats are prone to intestinal cancers"
. He has YES INDEED lost a total of one pound since September 2015. The other vet said he had NOT. I looked at the chart--yes he lost a whole pound since September. I told him I honestly believe it has been since Shortstack was introduced, and he said it very well could be stress causing all of this.
Then he proceeded, in an almost scolding voice, to tell me that while they were drawing blood they found ONE flea on him. One. They were going to put some sort of concoction on the back of his neck and I had to jump in and stop them and tell them I treat monthly--all my cats--with Frontline. I wanted no double dosing because they saw one flea. I even wondered if he picked it up while we were there. He went on to ask if I had seen anything look like tiny grains of rice---blah blah blah---and I said no, I've seen no tapeworm evidence, no any worm evidence, and asked if they wormed him last time because I had told them to. I even got charged for it. He said they did not. So they used the back of the neck drop mess to deworm him.
We had a long talk about his teeth. He has a mouth sore, probably from bad teeth. They are terrible. My other vet said he did not want to risk sedating him, they do not have the gas that is safer. No vet in our area apparently does this. This vet would not give me any type of risks, and got really pissy sounding when I kept asking questions. He kept repeating "It is up to you to determine the risk, not us". I said, "well, you're the vet, not me
, I have no info to even weigh against" to which he would tell me nothing other than they would give me an estimate. $90 for cleaning plus $25 to include all multiple extractions. That's a little too cheap to be reassuring for my cat to have multiple teeth extracted.
Parting advice was to wait two weeks to see if the dewormer helps, then come back if no better, and we will proceed with steroid shots/antibiotics. He said the increased eosinophils and neutrophils usually indicate either parasites or fungal infections--is that true as well?
I am SO upset. Probably more from lack of information than anything. He also kept stating it could be nothing, or it could be cancer--didn't tell me much else.
http://www.thecatsite.com/t/316451/aging-kitty-question
However, this past week he has vomited daily. This really concerned me. He puked all over our bed, all over the floor, what I call "used" cat food and (yes this is gross what I call it) hairball juice. Only a small 1 1/2 inch hairball was found near the door. He is stressed from Shortstack being introduced February 5th into the household, but he has some other issues, so another vet appointment made.
Well, $172 later, I came out more confused and unhappy than before. I saw my vet's counterpart, and he is an arrogant ass in my opinion, but everyone says he is really good and worth putting up with the attitude for the treatment he provides. So I conceded, and took the available appointment with this vet. My vet was booked until 3 weeks from now.
We got toenails clipped as usual, and then I pushed for a full panel bloodwork with thyroid test ($112 of the total just for the testing). I think the prior visit they only ran a white count, or maybe a smaller, basic panel. This vet came in and told me all is indeed well except for 2 things. His eosinophils and neutrophils were *slightly* elevated--and he did not give me values or even a copy of the bloodwork. He emphasized *slightly* and did not seem concerned. He said his WBC were up slightly too, but he said that was very normal for a cat coming in to the vet, that stress raises their WBC?? Is this true?
He went on about the vomiting and really didn't tell me anything. He said it could be stress, allergies, all the way up to cancer, that "cats are prone to intestinal cancers"
Then he proceeded, in an almost scolding voice, to tell me that while they were drawing blood they found ONE flea on him. One. They were going to put some sort of concoction on the back of his neck and I had to jump in and stop them and tell them I treat monthly--all my cats--with Frontline. I wanted no double dosing because they saw one flea. I even wondered if he picked it up while we were there. He went on to ask if I had seen anything look like tiny grains of rice---blah blah blah---and I said no, I've seen no tapeworm evidence, no any worm evidence, and asked if they wormed him last time because I had told them to. I even got charged for it. He said they did not. So they used the back of the neck drop mess to deworm him.
We had a long talk about his teeth. He has a mouth sore, probably from bad teeth. They are terrible. My other vet said he did not want to risk sedating him, they do not have the gas that is safer. No vet in our area apparently does this. This vet would not give me any type of risks, and got really pissy sounding when I kept asking questions. He kept repeating "It is up to you to determine the risk, not us". I said, "well, you're the vet, not me
Parting advice was to wait two weeks to see if the dewormer helps, then come back if no better, and we will proceed with steroid shots/antibiotics. He said the increased eosinophils and neutrophils usually indicate either parasites or fungal infections--is that true as well?
I am SO upset. Probably more from lack of information than anything. He also kept stating it could be nothing, or it could be cancer--didn't tell me much else.